


Captain Barlow vs. Santa Gary

by fffan201



Category: Take That (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Creamcake, Love, M/M, Secret Relationship, barlliams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 14:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fffan201/pseuds/fffan201
Summary: Robbie has a Christmas problem, and while he lacks any mood for this year's Christmas party, he thinks about canceling the festival of love. ... However, there is someone who has more than absolutely to prevent his plans.





	Captain Barlow vs. Santa Gary

**In one conversation I saw what I’d always believed in  
In just a few words I could tell it would hurt  
To leave you without knowing when I mihgt see you again  
So again I depend on the unknown**

 

In the middle of December, when Christmas was right on the doorstep, there was a reddish evening sun for the current hour and on the western horizon that made the snow-covered world of England shine. After it had snowed almost continuously over the past few weeks, the sun was finally shining on this Christmas day and due to the cloudless sky, the temperatures also climbed deeper and deeper into the non-existent and icy basement of the rungs of an invisible ladder. Basically, you couldn't wish a better Christmas day. And who knows ...maybe Mrs. Holle was persuaded to shake off her pillows later in the evening. In short, it was a day that could not be more beautiful.

 

Today was the twenty-fourth of December. As this one day slowly came to an end and the people of England made the final arrangements for tomorrow's Christmas, a call came in somewhere where the person on the other end was anything but in Christmas mood. 

"Hey Rob. Buddy. Isn't it a little early to send a Christmas greetings ...or did you just want to be the first one this year?" Robbie Williams heard the laughing voice of his more than good friend Gary Barlow.

"Actually, I only wanted to hear your voice and ask you how it is with tomorrow. Our meeting remains, right?"

"Of course. What kind of question is this? I'm even looking forward to finally seeing you again. After all, our last meeting has been back for almost five months now. Believe it or not, if I cannot even hug you once in a month, I'm already missing something."

"I feel the same, mate. I miss my good old GB like hell, but it's just that we should probably cancel our meeting tomorrow. Robbie said with a hint of sadness in his voice and letting his long missing friend know that he was thinking that tomorrows meeting of their families to be canceled. 

"What? Why that? You cannot do that to my children ...and most of all, not me!"

"I'm sorry, Gaz. But ...but I'm not in mood for it."

"And the chance that your mood will rise again by tomorrow is at zero? Come on, Rob. How many times have we ever met in the last two years? Four, five times? I don't know how you see it, but I feel that as decidedly too little. ...If I can help you get your mood back up, then tell me and we'll find a solution. Just please, don't cancel my year's Christmas highlight." Gary tried desperately to dissuade Robbie from his plans.

"You're really cute, that you look at me as your highlight, but ...what should I do, if Teddy thinks Santa was eaten by a monster and thinks he is dead?"

"Eaten by a monster? How does she come up with this idea?"

"Well. Teddy watched as I helped Mark masquerade as a Santa Claus. It unfortunately happened to us a small mishap, where both of us then went down at the end and I fell on Mark. ...Then she ran away screaming and has been hiding under Aydas skirt ever since."

"This is not your serious, isn't it?" Gary couldn't resist a slight giggle.

"Keep laughing. At any rate, I don't consider that funny, Gaz. Even Ayda has the dearest trouble explaining to her that Santa is immortal. Even when one of his reindeer has drunk one's thirst, runs against a tree and Santa falls unhappily from the sleigh."

"Oh Rob. ... And that's the only reason you're making such a drama and want to cancel our meeting tomorrow? "

"What should I do, please? For that, I lost all sense of humor.", Robbie simply didn't know what to do anymore and tried to tell his friend that he could do without the coming Christmas holidays, whereupon he only had one silence at the other end, "Gaz? ...Gaz, are you still there?"

But since Gary then gave no echo, the silence between the two then suddenly abruptly interrupted by Gary just ended their phone conversation. 

 

About one and a half hours passed and while the sun was already below the horizon, there was currently a visibly tense mood in the Williams home. And this could not even be rudimentarily lifted by a festively decorated Christmas tree. To be sure, someone like Mark and Emma, who was invited by Robbie that evening, made the utmost effort to give the festival of love a new and special atmosphere. In vain. While Ayda still hoped that the evening could still come to a happy ending, Robbie's mood had finally hit the ground. Even his phone call to Gary, which was now about an hour and a half away, had not brought him anything. The fact that this ended their conversation even without a word to say and simply hung up, Robbie hurt immensely, leaving him with a feeling of absolute emptiness. Somehow, he had expected Gary to be serious, to show sympathy for his problem and to come round the corner with a rather simple solution. What he didnt even consider in the least ...and thus significantly disappointed him.

After the said one and a half hours had passed into the snowy land and the families Owen and Williams sitting comfortably in the living room in front of a burning fireplace to let the rest of the evening together in peace, it suddenly drizzled from above some snow into the fire, whereupon the Flaming flames flared up and gave it a rather loud crackle.

No sooner had the fire calmed down by the contact with the snow, then it knocked on the living room door, and due to the very strange event, everyone looked over at them, and neither of the two families present was even remotely aware of it Comforting to get up and to see what was behind this supernatural, Mark finally volunteered to open the said door. Alone because of his own and irrepressible curiosity, which he it then followed. 

After Mark had already opened the door for a crack, already a more or less deep voice laughed at him, which sounded familiar to the singer from somewhere.

"Hohoho!"

To his utter surprise, he then stood before an unannounced visitor, who actually came from a completely foreign and fantastic world, but he turned out to be more than a person of trust. So Mark was really amazed that Santa Claus was standing in front of him. At first he thought that Robbie had arranged something for the quicker, so that Teddy somehow regained her faith in the still living Santa Claus. On a second glance, Mark recognized his good friend Gary under the guise, clearly committed to maintaining his rank as Captain Barlow, and hopefully bringing Robbie's spirits up. Just for the well-intentioned attempt to persuade Teddy that Santa was immortal and still alive, Gary would then get Robbie's deal with a more than heartfelt hug. But if this attempt failed more than pitifully, Mark couldnt and didn't want to imagine a reaction from his best friend.

 

While Mark continued to stare at his counterpart, denying him entry for the time being, he was gently patted on the head by Gary after just two seconds, and he also had to let him say something else, for which he ended up only a tired and half Smile had left: "Well, my little boy, do not you want to let me in so I can do my annual and favorite work or must I force myself through the fireplace?"

"Well, ...since my childhood I always wanted to see Santa coming through a chimney and disappearing the same way ...and therefore, I ask for it." Mark could then just give it with a mischievous grin and Gary threw him a challenging look.

"Then that could not have been long ago, my little one. ...To my regret, I have to do without my departure and the slippage of the chimney. In the penultimate family, I probably ate too much a biscuit and at the last, but then I actually stuck. If Rudolph had not given me a helping hoof, I would still be stuck in the Barlow's chimney and that would be the end of this year's Christmas."

"Oh. I know the Barlows very good and so I have to tell you unfortunately, that's something of no matter. They even think Santa is superfluous and find him completely overrated."

"How rude. ...Here and to finally give you peace, your gift.", Santa brought out shortly afterwards outraged and then let him know incidentally that he was here on a specific mission, "Besides, I am only here to my little favorite friend to visit. Because I've heard that she thinks I'm dead."

With these words, Gary finally turned to little Theodora and while Robbie's daughter clung even more to her mother's legs and kept hiding under Aydas skirt, he knelt in front of her and then did his best to convince Teddy that Santa still existed.

"Hey. My little girlfriend. What are you hiding from? It cannot be me, right? ...Listen, Teddy. I know that you believe that I was devoured by a monster and are therefore no longer in this world, but as you see, it still gives me and will remain so forever. Nothing and nobody can stop me from blessing my dear little fans the way you are at Christmas. Monster or not, they cannot do anything to me. Believe me, I'm unbreakable. I may at least stay stuck in the chimney ...just as I did, but fortunately I still have Rudolph at my side whos can relieve me from such an awkward situation with much effort and need. ...Anyway. The most important thing is that you continue to believe in me and that you know that I can never be eaten by any monsters. As long as there are such great and many fans of mine in this world as you are, I will not cease to exist. You are my true strength. I promise you very much that I will definitely visit you again next year. Okay?"

"R ...really?" Teddy brought over timidly and hesitantly.

"You have my word. ...Come here, let me hug you."

Then Teddy actually let go of Ayda's legs and went into a warm hug with Santa Claus, where she was no longer visible within a few seconds. After a minute or so, Gary finally asked, and continued with a disgruntled voice into the embrace whether his little girlfriend was all right again and he received only a small "Yes" from her shortly thereafter, the singer gave the little girl instantly her freedom back and gave her the widest smile that he knew in his repertoire.

"I am reassured. You don't know how painful it is for me if someone loses or even gives up the belief in my person and then turns more to the ...Easter bunny. Apart from that, unlike Bugs Bunny, I do not run the risk of one day landing in the oven at yours.", Santa Claus aka Gary winked at her and while he let Teddy know that the Easter bunny had one doing a much more dangerous job than himself, he gave her a little plush Santa Claus in her arms and promised to come back next year, "And so you will not forget me ...here. I promise we'll see each other again next year, okay?"

With Santa Claus in small format, which she now firmly pressed against her body, Teddy looked at "the real" with very big eyes, nodded already very diligently and was already looking forward to the next year, like a honey cake horse.

"I think that my work is done and since I still have to break into some houses to give all the many dear children their present under the tree, I'll go again. But before I do that, I have a reminder to the others here to remind them of what the meaning of Christmas really is. Thats being together and sharing something with each other." Gary saw his actual work as done, but before he disappeared again, he wanted to put his friends the special meaning of Christmas once again. 

That in the end it was more than just love. 

No sooner had Gary pulled that admonitory clue out of his sleeve than Ayda knew immediately what it was all about: "A mistletoe."

"Exactly.", Gary confirmed this to her, then held the mistletoe over his head and asked her for something that was so common in the tradition, "Give me a little kiss."

Of course, Ayda didn't want to break one of the most beautiful traditions in the world by any means, and under these circumstances, she gave Santa Claus a bland, innocent kiss, with absolutely nothing to complain about.

"Thank you so much, Santa."

After Gary gave a small, shy and warm laugh and he still held the mistletoe over his head, Gary was suddenly grabbed by a nearby Robbie, with the words "Now it's my turn!" by the collar and felt shortly thereafter even his lips on his own. Even while this one kiss between the two even lasted for several seconds and Robbie apparently did not want to let him go, his blood immediately shot to his head and took on a reddish color in the face within a fraction of a second. It was not like he was just looking to get his lips kissed by his best friend for a long time. No. Definitely not. To be honest, he hadnt expected it. ...And especially not when it happened in front of the eyes like an Ayda, Emma or Mark. 

But after Robbie had loosened his grip on Gary, the two of them stared at each other for a moment in their eyes, and so the younger man whispered the following words that only his counterpart could hear it: "You dont know how long I waited for it! You are truly unique ...my major!"

"Captain. You mean, Captain."

"Not anymore from today. If you ask me, you've been holding the rank of a captain for far too long, and you've earned the promotion to a major. ...Major Barlow!"

Major Barlow ... Somehow that sounded very strange and partly wrong in Gary's ears. With the assigned rank of captain, he had always been quite satisfied and so this promotion of Robbie really did not have to be. But since it came from his buddy and this was more than obvious fun to call him so, he did not want to let him take this joy on Christmas Day under any circumstances. After all, Robbie was also just a human being, who continued to feel the goodness of the bond of their sincere and very special friendship, which incidentally never came to an end. A friendship that really had a great value for both of them and went far beyond. One where a sweet secret hid at the other end and which even Robbie and Gary knew. But since they were still watched by all present and sometimes with big eyes, Robbie finally ended their small and common show insert, by taking a step away from Gary, whereupon he sat then a very innocent look and only loud in The room said it was lucky to kiss Santa.

"Well, if that's the case. ...Come here Santa Claus. Let me kiss you." Mark wanted to test it out himself and get a piece of this lucky cake by the way.

"That's out of the question, Marko. This is Santa Claus himself and a not-so-hopped frog prince ...and besides, I have just leased all the luck for myself." Robbie was absolutely stern against Mark getting himself ripped off his Gary.

"That's not fair. Apparently you've already forgotten what he just said. That Christmas is there to be there for one and to share something with each other. So. I want it too."

"No. Forget it. If you kiss him now, he will immediately turn back into a frog and then stay forever ...and I cannot and will not let that happen."

"Hohoho. Dont argue boys and do not worry my little Roberto, as long as there is a small sherry for me here, nothing like that will happen." Gary joined shortly thereafter in this small and quite obviously harmless debate and thus went in between.

With these words, Gary finally reached for the little glass Teddy had extra and usually put on for Santa Claus, drank the contents out to Ex, walked over to Mark and actually gave him a quick kiss on his lips. After giving Emma a cheeky smack on her in passing as well, Gary finally headed for the exit and wished to see the crowning conclusion of each and every one present here as happy and contemplative celebrations.

"Merry Christmas my dears and have a nice party still. We'll definitely meet again next year."

 

When the disguised Gary had already been outside the room for almost a minute and had thus disappeared from the scene, Robbie ran after him immediately and somehow tried to catch up with his friend. As soon as Robbie arrived in front of the big and heavy front door, he opened it and immediately saw the best friend he could wish for. One, who was truly more than invariably there for him and had a very special place in his heart. One, he has not gotten out of his head for nearly twenty-five years now. One, in whom he had fallen madly in love and never let him out of his life again. Gary was so present in his cosmos that he did not want to restore it to anybody in the world. No matter how high the offer was. No. Besides the music and his own family, who did not even know his little / big secret, this damn good-looking and hot guy, by the name of Gary Barlow, was his one and only. 

"Gary. Wait a moment."

With these extremely concise words, Robbie hastened to instantly get to his friend's side and, without worrying much about the speed, chased the last few steps almost at a breakneck pace, making one anxious. The moment the addressee turned to him and casually asked if he'd forgotten something, Robbie slipped on an unseen ice slab, and while he slid forward unhindered, Gary couldnt react faster, taking a giant lunge to the front and thus in the direction of his fall, whereupon the younger man also found himself immediately in the warm and strong arms of his friend. But Robbie's fall sometimes led to the episode, as it was not to be expected otherwise that Gary fell by the sudden coming back to the ground and his buddy just tore with it. No sooner had Gary with Robbie over him in the cold snow, the two stared at each other until they finally sank with the light snowfall in a very deep, warm and extremely longing kiss.

God. How long had it been since they'd kissed the last time? It was definitely decided much too long and so no one could play with the idea of when that was. Both, Robbie and Gary, wanted to feel the warmth of the other at the same time, while letting their extraordinary, secret, sweet and long-lasting love taste. While they were kissing with full fervor and a good dose of passion, the pious desire that the time should be more than at last, so that they could hold on to every well-known  and familiar feeling of their eternal connection. To her suffering, however, this terrible time ticked on in the same rhythm, and never even thought of ever quitting in the most remote sense. Gary and Robbie had to end their exchange, sooner or later.

After a lively exchange of their feelings for each other, Robbie made the first step to put an end to it and gave Gary a few profound words which he hadn't told him for a long time ...and above all the first three words.

"I love you."

"I love you too ...my little angelic and falling angel."

"If you ask me, you are the angel here. Not me. ...An angel you really have to love about everything."

"Rob. I."

"No. Seriously. In heaven, an angel definitely needs to be missing, because this one is just in front of me. ...Sometimes I really believe that God has sent you to me. The world's best angel on earth."

"I certainly do not want to bother you with your little beautiful speech, but if I do not get out of the snow soon, my butt will still freeze to something I'd rather not describe."

"So? Then try it, I would just want to hear it." Robbie said mischievously and with a big grin.

"You're really incorrigible, Rob. Come on now. Please help me to get up."

"What a pity. I could stay like this for hours. Because you are so soft. ...You have not done your best cushion under your disguise, have you?" Robbie didn't want to give up their present and ample comfortable position, but when he looked into Gary's beautiful blue-green eyes and in them something like a deep and silent pleading in the end, he reluctantly agreed, "All right. I dont want your sexy butt doing anything and possibly getting frostbite or worse, icicles."

 

With these words, he gave his little friend the freedom again and after Robbie stood on his two feet, he held his hands out to Gary and helped him up with it. No sooner had Gary gotten help from Robbie and the two had an easily surmountable distance to each other again, the entertainer was just about to press his secret love another small kiss on his lips, but before he got the chance, Gary had him in all seriousness take this wasted love affair and asked more casually what he really wanted from him.

"Can't you think it? ...I just wanted to thank you for what you did for Teddy and me. After hanging up a couple of hours ago, I ... I thought you were ...."

"That I let you down and you were a bit disappointed with me? ...Believe me, Rob. Something like that would never come to my mind. I do everything for you. Even if I had to pull my arm out of it. You are infinitely important to me and I don't want to lose you at any cost. Not even for the money, what the world means. You are just too valuable to me. Giving up on you would be the biggest mistake I could ever make. ...I just love you too much for that and I wouldn't even stop it in a thousand years." Gary already knew what Robbie wanted out and let them know instantly that he would do anything imaginable for him and how great his love for the younger really was.

At this sugary love declaration, Gary grabbed Robbie's head, looked up with an unfamiliar deep yearning in his beautiful eyes, pulled him to his own and giving him more than a passionate kiss. A kiss where Gary revealed all the feelings for this one man, how much he loved him above all else.

As Gary left by Robbie and the two stared for a moment, face to face, into the other's eyes, the still disguised Santa Claus whispered in a velvety voice: "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Well. The way to the North Pole is quite far. ...But you're worth the long trip to me and even if I get the wildest reindeer in the way, I'll just make wild goulash out of them. Nothing will stop me from being around you."

"So I managed to raise your mood again?"

"Even more than that. ...Not only did you save my personal, most beautiful Christmas, but you also gave me what I wanted for a long time."

"And you mine. ...Who knows where we would be today, if our shared story would have been different." Gary said with a hint of bitterness in his voice and after Robbie had to agree with a slightly sad look and a silent nod he will say goodbye to his best friend for the time being, "But I really have to go slow, because I had to promise the Christmas Mistress that I will not stay out too long."

"I think I should go back in gradually. ...But not only because someone else could suspect, but much more because of the freezing cold."

"Why are you going to throw yourself in the cold, without throwing anything at first?"

"Because I thought I might already have missed you."

Gary then took off his cap, then put it down with the words, "Here. At least that's better than nothing and should warm you up at least a bit.", on Robbies head and went over the few steps to his car, where he also immediately clamped behind the wheel. After the older man closed the door, he cranked down the window and, as a precaution, asked if tomorrow's meeting really took place.

"Then it will be tomorrow?"

"Do you seriously ask that? ...Of course. I even hope that we can repeat that from earlier on." Robbie made with a very big grin the hope that they continued their small show, which was again under a mistletoe, before the eyes of a surprised Dawn and leaned so to the car, whereupon only his head was visible.

"But only if you ate one or the other of your rum cookies before." Gary had no objection to it and yet he had one condition that Robbie should eat at least one of their home-baked and notoriously famous rum cookies and he had that taste thus still tasted on his lips.

"And you a peppermint dragee. ...Or did you use oral spray before?" Robbie laughed and could not help but add a loose spell in the last sentence.

"No comment. ...See you tomorrow, Rob. I wish you a Merry Christmas." Gary didn't want to comment on his buddy's last seven words and after he had started the engine, he said goodbye with a wink for the next and not quite twenty-four hours.

Shortly thereafter, Gary was already driving home, leaving a waving Robbie, who was still overjoyed and warm, "That's what I wish you too and see you tomorrow. ...My major.", called after. As soon as the former captain and current major of the men's group around Take That was out of sight, Robbie immediately went inside to look forward to his morning meeting with the Barlows, like a honey cake horse. But this almost fell victim to it because of his lacking and lousy mood and therefore would not have taken place. Only through the courageous intervention of a very specific person in his life, which just came around with the simplest solution around the corner and he was in this two ears more than anything else crush, his best and most beautiful Christmas should be saved for a long time. What was finally topped even by an unforgettable and heartwarming kiss.

No. Gary has been more than just something special in his life, and he'll stay that forever. ...His major.

 

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this more or less small x-mas story and so I wish everyone here at this point, nice Christmas and a contemplative time with your loved ones. ;-)


End file.
